School lunches affect most students at school. Over the years at Kathleen MacDonald High School (KMHS), there have been many menu changes, but students have different opinions about whether the changes were positive.

Students have specific concerns related to the taste or quality of the lunches. Some students find issues with the food’s lack of seasoning, rather than finding it outright bad.

In an anonymous survey, a junior student said, “The meat is good (sometimes), but the rice is sometimes tasteless and bad, and so is the spaghetti (the sauce is great though).”

Likewise, a sophomore student said, “I think the lunches overall are not that bad. I wish the cafeteria used more seasoning. I also wish they used better rice and/or cooked it better.”

In the same survey, students were asked about the quality of the food compared to previous years. 75% of students who took the survey said that the food had either gotten slightly worse/stayed around the same quality as before. This data shows that some students don’t see a significant difference compared to previous years. 

A senior student who said lunches have gotten slightly worse also said they have to throw away lunches 4-5 times a week because they were dissatisfied with the food. This poses a serious concern because some students have to throw away their lunches often and potentially be hungry throughout the school day.

When students don’t eat lunch, they may have trouble staying focused and experience lower energy levels throughout the school day. These factors can significantly affect students’ learning and negatively impact test scores, which is why it’s important for lunches to be of good quality.

Overall, the quality of lunches is a prominent issue at KMHS. Students’ opinions on school lunches vary, but many are dissatisfied with the lack of flavor. However, this is not reflective of the opinions of everyone at the school, rather just a group of students who took the survey.